The first of Louis Theroux's three-part series, Dark States, has aired in the UK and people are shocked. The documentary, titled Heroin Town, focuses on opioid addicts who use prescription medication as well as the highly addictive substance heroin.
The filmmaker embedded himself in an Appalachian community, which is being 'devastated and stretched to its limits by widespread heroin use'.
Check out a snippet here:
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WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGES
Credit: BBC Two
Louis met 25-year-old Katillia through a needle exchange program and she showed us how she battled her addiction. The young woman admitted to shooting up about six or seven times a day, which costs roughly $200 (£153). The West Virginian said she has robbed people and also stripped and prostituted herself to get the cash to pay for her drugs.
The confronting footage on BBC showed Katillia injecting heroin in front of Louis and her boyfriend Alvin. She also revealed that he physically abused her early on in the relationship and even broke her nose once.
People on social media thought the documentary was brilliantly produced but also hard to watch.
Louis told The Sun how intense it was to film these addicts while they were taking drugs: "It's a documentary maker's paradox. On one level you want to do the best job you can, so there's an urge to think: 'We need to see this in order to tell the truth about it.'
"But you're conscious that it is distressing and obviously deeply harmful.
"I was shocked at how many people were willing to shoot up on camera. It got to the point where I was trying to stop people from doing it if only to keep them present and articulate."
America is currently in the grips of an opioid epidemic. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for people under the age of 50, according to the New York Times, and two thirds of those overdoses are caused by opioids.
Credit: BBC Two
As a result, the US government has crack downed hard on prescription pills like oxycodone (OxyContin and Percocet) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) and made them harder to get. This has led some who are addicted to the pills to switch to heroin, because it's easier to find.
The crisis has also led to thousands of children in foster care because their parents died from drug overdoses.
Louis has two more documentaries part of the Dark States series, with the second instalment being released next weekend. Trafficking Sex will explore the sex trade in Houston, with the synopsis saying: "He also uncovers the complex dynamic between prostitutes and pimps, learning the rules the sex trade is run by and the factors that prevent women from escaping abusive arrangements."
While Murder In Milwaukee will examine the bitter race divide in the US city and how gun crime is spiralling out of control. According to the BBC, the Wisconsin city has a murder rate 12 times the national average.
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Topics: America, Heroin, louis theroux, Drugs
